ExaGrid EX Series vs IBM ProtectTIER comparison

ExaGrid and IBM are both solutions in the Deduplication Software category. ExaGrid is ranked #8 with an average rating of 9.0, while IBM is ranked #13. ExaGrid holds a 7.4% mindshare in DS, compared to IBM’s 1.2% mindshare. Additionally, 100% of ExaGrid users are willing to recommend the solution, compared to 60% of IBM users who would recommend it.

ExaGrid EX Series

Read 6 ExaGrid EX Series reviews

1,951 Views
1,912 Comparison Views

100% willing to recommend

IBM ProtectTIER

Read 7 IBM ProtectTIER reviews

566 Views
266 Comparison Views

60% willing to recommend

ExaGrid EX Series

IBM ProtectTIER

Comparison Buyer's Guide

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Executive SummaryUpdated on Nov 5, 2024

IBM ProtectTIER and ExaGrid EX Series are competing in data backup and storage. ExaGrid holds the upper hand due to its scalability and robust backup performance.

Features: IBM ProtectTIER features efficient data deduplication, seamless integration with existing infrastructure, and robust support. ExaGrid EX Series offers strong scalability, fast backup and restore times, and adaptive deduplication, enhancing backup performance.

Room for Improvement: ProtectTIER could enhance its scalability, backup speed, and initial setup cost. ExaGrid could improve its long-term deduplication process, older data recovery speed, and offer more integrations.

Ease of Deployment and Customer Service: IBM ProtectTIER is known for its straightforward deployment and reliable support infrastructure. ExaGrid EX Series is often praised for its simplified installation process and proactive support, making its deployment model more efficient.

Pricing and ROI: ProtectTIER generally incurs higher setup costs but offers strong ROI through storage efficiency. ExaGrid provides lower upfront expenses and competitive total cost of ownership, delivering immediate financial savings and desirable ROI over time.

To learn more, read our detailed ExaGrid EX Series vs. IBM ProtectTIER Report (Updated: September 2025).

Buyer's Guide

ExaGrid EX Series vs. IBM ProtectTIER

September 2025

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Review summaries and opinions

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Categories and Ranking

ExaGrid EX Series

Ranking in Deduplication Software

8th

Average Rating

9.0

Reviews Sentiment

7.4

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

No ranking in other categories

IBM ProtectTIER

Ranking in Deduplication Software

13th

Average Rating

7.2

Number of Reviews

Ranking in other categories

Backup and Recovery (84th)

Mindshare comparison

As of September 2025, in the Deduplication Software category, the mindshare of ExaGrid EX Series is 7.4%, down from 9.6% compared to the previous year. The mindshare of IBM ProtectTIER is 1.2%, up from 1.2% compared to the previous year. It is calculated based on PeerSpot user engagement data.

Deduplication Software Market Share Distribution
Product	Market Share (%)
ExaGrid EX Series	7.4%
IBM ProtectTIER	1.2%
Other	91.4%

Deduplication Software

Featured Reviews

Rastislav Maniak

Partial Owner at Storage One

Improves backup and recovery time and integration with other products is good

The tool reduces storage footprint. However, clients are now storing data for longer durations with increasing requirements to retain backups for longer periods, particularly as a defense against ransomware attacks. As a result, the retention zone with duplicated data is experiencing more demand, leading to space constraints. This necessitates using higher-end, more expensive models to address the issue. I was asking about the mutual appliance, which would provide the same features as the integrated client without the hardware. This would allow it to be used in the public cloud, which I heard might be available soon. However, the private cloud is not reliable.

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ValereFEUGWANG

Information System Consultant at CFAO Technologies

Protects data in hybrid infrastructures, but it is an expensive product with poor support

The main challenge for our customers is to replicate the virtual environment upon restart, without using any additional solutions such as VMware SLM. I would like the possibility to back up the infrastructure and then replicate it upon on restart, without having to orchestrate the starting of the VM. It would be much better for us. This solution can be made easier to use. Technical support is very frustrating and we are considering other solutions because of it. Stability is something that should be improved. The product is expensive and the licensing should be changed.

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Quotes from Members

We asked business professionals to review the solutions they use. Here are some excerpts of what they said:

Pros

"The most valuable features of the solution are deduplication and landing zone."

"The most valuable feature is the ease of use and data deduplication. It's extremely easy to use and does a very good job of data deduplication and compression."

"One of the main features is the landing zone, it is a particular space where the information is not duplicated."

"The solution easily integrates with the backup targets, such as Veeam."

"The tool has improved backup and recovery times. One of the key features contributing to this improvement is the landing zone and deduplication retention zone. When data is in the landing zone, the process is fast, ensuring smooth backup and recovery operations at high speeds. However, the process becomes slower for long-term backups moved to the retention zone due to fragmentation. So, if the data is older than a few days, the speed may be limited, especially for non-deduplicated data in the landing zone."

"It is a solid and a quite simple solution, which is a good combination. The customers like the simplicity and its scale-out capacity. They like the support pricing, and even the extension capacity pricing, a fixed price, which the executive is offering in Czech market."

"The command-line interface is good."

"In terms of stability, I've found it to be very stable. I've walked into the server room when it was at 60 degrees Celcius, and it was still running fine."

"The most valuable features are the Self-Service, and the ability to search the data."

"The cataloging is the best feature. It takes millions of frames for the backup. It's incremental, so it takes less time to complete."

"The solution is highly stable."

"Overall IBM ProtectTIER is a great solution. It is easy to use."

Cons

"When speaking about a scale-out, you want to have better equipment. You cannot just add a disc to the foreign equipment. You have to buy another one and put it together, like parallel."

"The tool reduces storage footprint. However, clients are now storing data for longer durations with increasing requirements to retain backups for longer periods, particularly as a defense against ransomware attacks. As a result, the retention zone with duplicated data is experiencing more demand, leading to space constraints. This necessitates using higher-end, more expensive models to address the issue."

"I would like for them to develop direct cloud integration with a third-party cloud. Direct integration with AWS and other cloud providers."

"The solution could improve by switching to a flash-type solution rather than the spinning drives that they currently use. However, we have not had any failure with the spinning drives. The flash-type drives are more up-to-date and are something that is in their roadmap."

"The one place where we are sometimes losing the opportunity with ExaGrid is that a few customers still require a fiber channel connectivity, which is not always possible."

"The product's documentation can be made more precise."

"IBM ProtectTIER could improve by being more user-friendly."

"Setting up the system to work with legacy equipment is a bit complex at times."

"The backup for a large amount of data is slow."

"I would like the possibility to back up the infrastructure and then replicate it upon on restart, without having to orchestrate the starting of the VM."

"The configuration wizards are still complex and hard to navigate. These should be easier to manage."

Pricing and Cost Advice

"I rate ExaGrid EX Series' pricing eight to nine out of ten."

"The current agreement has 21 terabytes of free space and it cost approximately $35,000."

"The previous solutions I have used both included the Backup Software and the Appliance making it hard to compare to this solution. However, overall the solution is reasonably priced for the features you receive. ExaGrid EX Series is priced better than HP, Dell, and possibly Commvault which I have compared in the past."

"My company had to pay 1,60,000 EUR for the system we use, and the payment was made just once for the system and five years of full support."

"In comparison to other solutions, it's affordable. They're all too expensive."

"This solution is very expensive."

"We have a capacity-based license, which is managed centrally for all the sites of my company."

"IBM ProtectTIER is an expensive solution."

"The customer can decide how they want to purchase a license. However, the price of the solution is expensive."

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Top Industries

By visitors reading reviews

Computer Software Company

15%

Financial Services Firm

13%

Manufacturing Company

11%

Government

No data available

Company Size

By reviewers

Large Enterprise

Midsize Enterprise

Small Business

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	5
Midsize Enterprise	2

By reviewers
Company Size	Count
Small Business	3
Midsize Enterprise	1
Large Enterprise	3

Questions from the Community

What do you like most about ExaGrid EX Series?

The tool has improved backup and recovery times. One of the key features contributing to this improvement is the landing zone and deduplication retention zone. When data is in the landing zone, the...

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What is your experience regarding pricing and costs for ExaGrid EX Series?

I rate ExaGrid EX Series' pricing eight to nine out of ten.

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What needs improvement with ExaGrid EX Series?

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Comparisons

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) vs ExaGrid EX Series

Compared 48% of the time

HPE StoreOnce vs ExaGrid EX Series

Compared 20% of the time

Quantum DXi Series vs ExaGrid EX Series

Compared 16% of the time

NetApp FAS Series vs ExaGrid EX Series

Compared 6% of the time

Veritas NetBackup Appliance vs ExaGrid EX Series

Compared 6% of the time

More ExaGrid EX Series Competitors

Dell PowerProtect DD (Data Domain) vs IBM ProtectTIER

Compared 67% of the time

HPE StoreOnce vs IBM ProtectTIER

Compared 33% of the time

More IBM ProtectTIER Competitors

Product Reports

Buyer's Guide

ExaGrid EX Series

September 2025

Download ExaGrid EX Series product report

Buyer's Guide

Deduplication Software

August 2025

Download IBM ProtectTIER product report

Also Known As

EX Series

No data available

Overview

The ExaGrid EX Series hyper-converged secondary storage for backup product line consists of eight appliance models. Each appliance is sized for a full backup and for long-term retention. Any ExaGrid appliance can be mixed and matched in the same scale-out system with any other size or age appliance, allowing customers to buy what they need as they need it. This pay-as-you-grow model allows up to 25 appliances in a single scale-out system.

ExaGrid

IBM TS7650G ProtecTIER Deduplication Gateway is designed to meet the disk-based data protection needs of the enterprise data center while enabling significant infrastructure cost reductions. The solution offers industry-leading inline deduplication performance and scalability up to 1 petabyte (PB) of physical storage capacity per system, and can provide up to 25 PB or more backup storage capacity. Combined with IBM or third-party storage, TS7650G ProtecTIER Deduplication Gateway provides a powerful disk-based repository to improve the performance, retention and availability of backup and archive data in a small footprint for energy and cost efficiency.

IBM

Sample Customers

NCI Group, North Attleborough Public School, North Kingstown School Department, NPS Pharmaceuticals, Prudential Douglas Elliman, Rathbone Brothers PLC, Rio Hondo College, Ruder Finn, Sarah Lawrence College

Durham Police Department, Re-Store LLC, CenterGrid, pixx.io GmbH, Australian Government Department of Defence, QD, Refresco Gerber

Buyer's Guide

ExaGrid EX Series vs. IBM ProtectTIER

September 2025

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